Life is Like a Batch of Cookies...

What do all these things have in common???

flour
baking soda
salt
butter
sugar…white & brown
vanilla extract
eggs
chocolate chips

LIFE

I was watching my friends 2 little girls this weekend while they went out of town for a wedding. They were so much fun. They are 4 & 2 and are expecting a baby sister this fall. Their daddy is going to have his has full when it comes to those teen age years.

They begged me to make a batch of cookies on Saturday night so we did. As we were reading the directions carefully (I am a cook NOT a baker...toooooo many exacts) I let them taste each ingredients as it went in to the bowl. God chose to use something as their reactions to speak to me about where I was in life right now.

Flour was first...the 4 year old said "it doesn't have a taste...it's dry"It got me thinking of how many times in life I feel like I am in such a dry place. Wondering if I am ever going to be refreshed again. Or maybe in a place that is just BLAH.

Baking Soda & Salt...the 4 year old turned up her nose at the baking soda and insisted that salt DOES NOT go in the cookies that her mom makes. Sometimes we don't see the need for events or things that happen in our life but without them our food would be tasteless.

BUTTER!! The 2 year old thought it was the best thing that I let her try butter without bread. The 4 year old smashed it between her finger and said it was smooth and slimy. She also said that butter only taste good with bread not by it's self. What/Who would I be without my husband. He is the one that God has paired me with. He is my strength & I am his helpmate. without him I am just "smooth & slimy".

SUGAR both brown & white. They both LOVED the sugar. They noticed the difference in color, texture & taste. The funny thing is they didn't want to move on from the sugar. They wanted to stay right there and keep eating the sugar. I don't know about you but sometimes I am like that too. When I am in the sweet spot in life I don't want ANYTHING to change around me. I just want to stay there forever but if I don't move on my life won't be complete.

Vanilla Extract...smells good but by it's self the girls found out it doesn't exactly taste like it smells. The four year old also asked why it came in such a small bottle & why did we only add a "little tiny bit"? Sometimes in life things look good on the outside & if you don't mix them with the correct ingredients or if you allow too much of it in it will over take God's goodness and His plans for you.

Eggs...KIDS + EGGS = MESSY. They loved it! Really who in their right mind allows a TWO year old crack their own egg??? Just got me thinking as the egg went all over the place sometimes when God is trying to break us it gets a little messy. Sometimes when life is so over whelming we need to stop and remember one of God's many promises to us. "Come to me, all you who are weary & burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30. Verse 30 came to me right as I was trying to catch the 1/2 broken egg flying all over the table. LOL!

Chocolate Chips...Yup you guessed it the loved those too. Funny thing is we had two different sizes...chunks and mini chips. They reminded me of the sweet goodness of God's truths that we need on a daily basis. Sometimes the nuggets He gives us throughout the day a CHUNKY and not easily missed but other days they are like the mini chips that sometimes you have to search out during you day but they are ALWAYS there.

As we were mixing it together we added the dry ingredients slowly allowing them to each use the hand mixer and shake a little dry stuff in with the wet the two year old bumped the dry bowl and it spilled some. I scooped what I could back in to the bowl and kept mixing until it was ready to scoop. Everything looked great but when the batter started to bake I noticed something...the cookies were spreading out like thin pancakes. I took the dough out and started really looking at it trying to figure out what I missed. Then it hit me...after cleaning up the mess of the spill I forgot to finish adding the dry ingredients. While it may have appeared as if the dough was complete it wasn't there was still more to add. I finished mixing everything & the rest of the batches turned out perfect!

I love it when God speaks so clearly that there is NO mistaking it was HIM.

Forgive me Father when there are ingredients that You give me that I see no use for or don't think I need it or don't want it. I thank & praise You Father for all the ingredients in my life.

My Morning...

Couldn't wait for this weekend. My friend Sarah came for a visit and brought her new wonderfully awesome boyfriend Andrew. I am so glad I got to spend sometime with both of them. Shawn had a company picnic that he had to go to and I stayed home with one of my friends two girls that I had this weekend so they could go to an out of town wedding. BOY was my morning fun...

As Sarah & Andrew came in the girls (ages 2&4) woke up. I brought them out to the kitchen table so Harley wouldn't jump on them and give them a little time to wake up. So I go back to finishing up breakfast. I notice that the 4 year old is sitting with her legs wide open and I tell her to sit like a lady and close her legs. Well I went to move her back and I see POOP smear across the table. The smart person that I am I say, "What is that??" The aroma quickly fills the air and I quickly grab her and take her to the tub. Sarah, thankfully, jumps up and starts cleaning the table, while Andrew was sitting there I KNOW thinking, "THE KID JUST POOPED ON THE TABLE and I am suppose to EAT HERE?????????"

We get everyone & thing cleaned up and we finally sit down for breakfast. I made eggs with sausage, fresh cantaloupe & bacon. I was sitting next to the 2 year old and she was pounding the bacon. She had 3 pieces and wanted a 4th but I thought it would be a great idea for her to eat a little egg first. I have made her eggs in the past and she has loved them...well apparently this time she didn't like the texture of the eggs and sausage mixed together and she throw up everything that she had eaten this morning. Thankfully most was covered by my napkin and all landed in the plate. I got up and cleaned her up and fixed her a bowl of Life cereal.

Sarah looked up at Andrew and said..."How many kids did you say you wanted again?"

Thankfully Sarah & Andrew STAYED till about 2. We all swam and thankfully lunch was pretty uneventful.

PS...Sarah you have quite a catch on your hands...I love him! I am so excited for you! :)

Swim Time

Hoping everyone out there had a fabulous Fourth of July and that you have a great rest of July as well. As for us...our pool is open so we had somewhere around 30 people at our house for the fourth. More food than we could possibly eat. The laughs and great memories were overflowing as well. We had such a great time!

Thankfully our swim time wasn't anything like the swim time at camp...take a look!


Yes that is our Youth Pastor & another one of our youth leaders. God has richly blessed us with an amazing Youth Pastor & leadership team. Please join with me in praying protection over their lives, their families, peace in their minds bodies & souls. Pray for great ideas to continue to come forth to reach this generation of leaders!

More camp memories to come...